Mismatched Endorsement: Role of Korean Endorsers on Philippines’ Telecommunication Brands

In today’s competitive market, advertising has become crucial for businesses to establish their presence and relevance. They implement different strategies that are inclusive of the celebrity endorsement wherein businesses hire a prominent figure as a spokesperson for their brand or product. The Philippine market is no stranger to this advertising strategy and has, in fact, brought in foreign celebrities as endorsers for Filipino brands. This can be seen with the recent advertisements of Philippine telco companies Globe and Smart featuring Blackpink and BTS, respectively. However, there is a clear mismatch between the endorsers and the brands since the Korean endorsers are not users of the products of Globe and Smart. This mismatch may result in the advertisement being ineffectual, especially since previous studies have already shown that the credibility of the endorser is key in generating purchase intention from the consumers. It is for this reason that the researchers wished to determine how the mismatch influences the behavior of Filipino telco consumers. The researchers generated hypotheses for the study that were tested through confirmatory analysis. Purposive sampling was used to identify respondents, and a digital survey was sent out to gather data from the 300 respondents. Data analysis of the study was conducted through the aid of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The results showed that not all Filipino consumers notice the mismatch between the Korean celebrity endorsers and Globe and Smart. Furthermore, the current study contradicted the findings of previous research regarding the source credibility model. It found that the Korean celebrity endorsers’ questionable credibility did nothing to negatively affect Globe and Smart. Rather, they further enhanced the consumers’ brand perception of the companies and positively influenced their purchase intention.